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Stephen, thanks for weighing in. I think the system here works well. I don't think anyone would think that any week's winner was undeserving. I suppose there will always be room to replace a shot or two from the final 6 with another shot. Just like the college football polls over here, I suppose. That's where (and why) the comments and discussions during the week are more important that the contest itself. A well thought-out critique means infinitely more to me than a vote in the contest. A vote doesn't help me learn as much as someone's critique.

This brings me back to a question I raised in my last post - was it an intentional decision by admin to limit whether critiques count towards your post total? Just want a clarification. If we know for sure, then we can direct new users to the forums, enabling them to get their 15, and increase the number of voters in the contest. Thanks!

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I'd also be interested in whether the compilation of the final 6 is subject to a loose category criteria as several other members have posited. If so, then I would be quite in favor of seeing something like a category checkbox added to the submission page. To me this shouldn't increase the workload for the admins as far as I can tell but might provide some insight for us. I do appreciate the efforts of the admins and I understand that they have time constraints that limit what they can offer but any info they can provide that makes the selection process a bit more transparent would be beneficial. Even a one time short synopsis of what you look for each week would be appreciated.

I'll continue to champion the efficacy and importance of the critiques over the actual competition selection unless/until those selections come with useful feedback.

An aside here to express my take on Buddy's earlier post that elicited some disfavor. Rather than seeing that post as braggadocio I saw it as a sort of curriculum vitae for the opinions he was about to express. I thought he was validating the quality and depth of the critiques he received as well as acknowledging some of our finer photographers. Perhaps he could be brought to task for not mentioning everyone on the site (surely he has time for this) but I found the post to be more about the quality of the site, including all of its contributors, than I did about what a fabulous photographer he was.


Darren

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Darren-
Are you suggesting that we have 6 categories and that 1 photo be choosen from each? If so, which categories would you recommend: landscape, people/pets, wildlife, still life, flora, misc.?
--Rick

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Rick,


Actually I wasn't really suggesting any particular format. I'm of the opinion that the judges attempt to keep the finals diverse while simultaneously preserving quality. So in other words, one of the criteria is diversity. This would, in effect mean that a macro or portrait might be chosen over a landscape given similar quality because they already had 2 or 3 landscapes If we had a week where 60 % of the images were portraits or candids then the nod might go to a landscape or a macro. The issue for me was whether or not the judges were using diversity as part of the selection criteria. If that is true it would be beneficial to know so. To me, if maintaining diversity in the final six is an objective then the ratio's would vary from week to week.

Darren

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